Is your dealership still using paper worksheets and Sharpie smiley faces? If you said yes, your competition is coming for your market share.
On the latest episode of NADA’s Dealer Driven podcast, automotive retail expert Joe St. John shatters the myth that customers want to buy cars with the click of a button. What they really want is a seamless journey from online research to in-dealership purchase.
"The Amazon-like car buying experience was the wrong hypothesis," St. John reveals. "Customers want to do more online so they can save time at the dealership—not skip it entirely."
The Untapped Competitive Edge
While dealerships invest heavily in website lead generation, St. John points to an alarming statistic: less than 5% of salespeople even look at the online information customers have already entered before they arrive.
"Customers show up thinking they're there to pick up the car they configured online," explains St. John. "Instead, they're forced to start over at square one."
The Customer Experience Gap You Must Close Now
The test drive remains the golden moment of car buying—that irreplaceable sensory experience when customers fall in love with their new vehicle. But what happens next?
"When's the customer's buying temperature highest? Right after the test drive," St. John says. "Then we leave them sitting there for 15-20 minutes as it crashes down, psychologically programming them to want to leave."
Your Strategy for Market Domination
Forward-thinking dealerships are already implementing interactive digital showroom experiences that maintain the buying momentum:
- Ditching paper negotiations.
- Offering pricing options when the customer wants them.
- Using videos as a selling tool.
- Implementing tools that turn F&I from a pain point into a profit center.
Listen in to hear exactly how.
"The dealers absolutely killing it have genuine focus and intentionality around the type of experience they deliver," St. John concludes. "They're not playing the short game—they're building sustainable businesses through superior customer experiences."
Don't wait until your competitors transform the buying experience. The future of automotive retail isn't about choosing between digital or physical—it's creating the perfect hybrid experience that puts customers in control.
Learn how to transform your sales process on this episode of Dealer Driven, available wherever you find your podcasts.
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